Hairpin



Aug. 11, 1964 -A.tc. 'SAWYER 3,144,028

HAIRPIN Filed Jan. 22, 1963 6 FIG. 6 e I (Z/11m) l4 32 34 INVENTOR ALICEC. SAWYER ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,144,028 HAIRPIN Alice C.Sawyer, 305 Highland Ave., Leominster, Mass. Filed Jan. 22, 1963, Ser.No. 253,131

1 Claim. (Cl. 132-50) This invention relates to a new and improvedhairpin provided with self-locking means for the hair and which willthus be held securely in the hair when positioned as desired.

The-principal object of the invention resides in the provision of ahairpin having self-locking means which comprises one or more pairs ofopposed but cooperating spring bars having substantially flat areasthereof adapted to substantially contact each other and including meansfor maintaining the same resiliently in position, but allowing thespring bars to be spread apart to allow a tress of hair to pass betweenthe same and into the head of the pin. The head of the pin is formed asan enclosure receiving the tress of hair from the inner ends of thespring bars located adjacent the head, and traps and locks the tress ofhair therein, and once the hair is located within the locking head, thespring bars return automatically to closed, substantially parallelposition, thus locking the hair firmly in the head of the pin, whichaction prevents the pin from falling out of the hair and converselyholds the hair securely in place.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of a hairpinas above described including two or more pairs of substantially flatcontacting spring bars which are in the legs of the pins, the legs beingspaced between the pairs of spring bars, thus forming an additional trapwith respect to the aforesaid trap in the head of the pin.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 isa View in elevation showing a form of the invention;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show modifications of the structure shown in FIG. 1,and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are enlarged sections on corresponding lines 5-5 and 6-6in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the structure of FIG. 1 inopen position.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, it will be seen that the hairpincomprises a pair of legs generally indicated at 10 and 12. These legsterminate in points which of course can be bowed, straight, etc. At theopposite end the pin terminates in an enlarged head 14 which issubstantially open forming a trap for the hair.

The legs 10 and 12 are provided with two elongated substantiallystraight spring bars which are indicated by the reference numerals 16and 18. These extend from junctions with the head at the neck 20, 20 topoints 22, 22 where they separate or diverge to join the points of thelegs.

Made integrally and extending between head 14 and the ends of the legs10 and 12, there is a reinforcing and backing up member for each leg asclearly indicated at 24 and 26. These members integrally join the headat the junction points 28 and 30 and then extend away from each otheralong the curves shown to points intermediate the ends of the springsbars 16 and 18 where they join the spring bars as at 32, 34. From thisintermediate point of connection with the spring bars, the reinforcingmembers 24 and 26 once more diverge but extend in almost parallelmembers down to and integrally joining with the ends of the legs 10 and12 as indicated by the reference numerals 36 and 38.

3,144,028 Patented Aug. 11, 1964 lice This construction provides for theelongated substantially straight spring bars which contact each othernormally and which are themselves resilient but provided withstrengthening or backing up members which are integral with the head 14and also the ends of the legs 10 and 12 adding strength and resilienceto the spring bars while reducing the amount of material needed to makethe pin.

This construction holds the hair firmly and securely in place. The hairpasses between the pressure points of the spring bars into the open trapsection of the head 14, locking the hair in the open section of thehead. The spring bars then return to their closed normal position asshown in FIG. 1. As the legs are spread to thrust the same into thehair, it will be seen that they will pivot apart to some degree, makinga converging passage between the spring bars 16 and 18 facilitating thepassage of the hair into the open head 14.

The hairpin of course can be molded plastic or it can be hand or machinecut and can even be made of wire or of different kinds of material whichmay be convenient to the purpose.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is here shown a pin having legs 40 and42, the legs being spaced at their ends as shown but approaching eachother as at 44, 46 forming spring bars with substantially fiat surfacepressure points or areas, these pressure areas being relatively shortcompared to those shown in FIG. 1. The construction is that the legs ofthe pin separate in the area at 48 forming a relatively small trap andmerge into the head 50 which is similar to that at 14. This traps thehair in position after the hair has passed through the two relativelyshort spring bar areas as shown at 44, 46 and 52. The spring bar area 52is substantially the same in extent and also in action as at 44 and 46.

This construction can also be formed with three sets or pairs of springbars as shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3 the legs 52, 54 have relatively orsubstantially medium length spring bar areas at 56 and then the legsdiverge into the trap area 58. Then the spring bar area 60 occurs,thence diverging forming trap 62, and thence reconverging forming thespring bar areas 64 merging into the head 66 which again issubstantially the same as that at 50 or at 14. This same constructioncan also be provided in a slightly diiierent way where the ends of thelegs of the pin at 68 and 70 are relatively long and normally spaced butconverging into the relatively short spring bar area 72, thus diverginginto the trap area 74; then reconverging at 76 to another fiat springbar area which again extends into the trap area 78 and once moreconverges at 80 extending into the trap area which in this case might betermed the final trap at 82. This again is somewhat similar to thoseheads of pins shown at 66, 50 and 14.

It will be seen that the lengths of spring bars and their elfectivelengths of the pressure areas can be varied as desired to suitcondition, size of pin, material, degree of resilience, etc.

Having thus described my invention and the advan tages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than asset forth in the claim, but what I claim is:

A onepiece hairpin of resilient plastic material comprising an open headand a pair of connected elongated legs, said legs joining the head inclose proximity to each other so that the head forms an openable butnormally closed lock for holding the hair, said legs comprising a pairof elongated spring bars extending from the head and being substantiallystraight at the inner aspects thereof and being normally in contactingrelationship substantially from end to end thereof, said spring barsextending for a major portion of the length of the hairpin, said legsincluding a pair of backing up members one for each of the elongatedspring bars, said backing up members being interconnected with respectto the respective elongated spring bars at a plurality of spaced pointsalong the -spring bars and terminatin'gin points which extend beyond theouter ends of the spring bars remote from the head, said backing upmembers being connected to said spring bars adjacent the head, adjacentthe outer ends of the spring bars, and at points intermediate thelengths thereof, the spring bars terminating at the outer ends thereofin diverging portions connected to the backing up members, the backingup members presenting elongated points beyond the outer ends of thespring bars, said points forming the entry point of the hairpin into thehair.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSHarrison Sept. 9, 1902 De Forge Nov. 30, 1915 Staub July 30, 1918 Rheinet aI. Nov. 22, 1921 Miller Mar. 28, 1922 Peck July 12, 1932 De JulioJune 4, 1-946 Sawyer Dec. 4, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS France May 5, 1947

